Engagement and the ability to work effectively in a diverse world
Photo Credit: P. Maurice
More than ever, STEMM practitioners are needed to identify and solve problems and to provide the innovation that drives economic growth. Engagement is crucial to ensuring that colleagues can ‘fly together’ effectively to achieve our highest aspirations in STEMM.
By Patricia A. Maurice and Janet G. Hering
29 April 2025, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15123669
The role of academia is to educate students, develop new knowledge, and serve the public. Each of these activities requires the ability to work well with and for diverse people because the world, itself, is diverse. Unfortunately, when individuals from an under-represented group (such as women in engineering) are brought in, they are often isolated. This isolation prevents them from doing their best work. If we want every student, faculty and staff member to be fully engaged in what they are doing, we need to reach out and engage them, especially if they are members of under-represented groups. We need to listen to their experiences so that we can remove the barriers to their success.
Recently, some high profile tech leaders have spoken out vehemently against diversity. They want to hire whomever they perceive to be ‘the best and brightest’ with no societal or legal constraints. Some errors have likely been made by pushing diversity as an exercise in box-ticking or tokenism or when group dynamics are too rigid to embrace new members. We must ask ourselves whether some of the failures perceived by tech leaders are at least partly due to their inability to engage a diverse workforce effectively and to ensure that everyone is given the opportunity to do their best work. This is where education is critical. As senior women leaders in STEMM, we need to continue ensuring that all our students are given opportunities to shine in the classroom and are taught why diversity matters and how to engage appropriately with members of under-represented groups. Perhaps these same tech leaders could stop fighting diversity and instead use their billions to ensure that all young people have the opportunity to be well educated and to be fully engaged in the workplace.
The power of a diversity of viewpoints
Different viewpoints, vantages, and perspectives matter. A room full of tall people may see the order that lies on or above a structure, but a single short person may perceive the potentially catastrophic mess that lies beneath. On the other hand, a short person cleaning a room may miss the dust on top of cabinets which is easily observed and cleaned by a taller person. This is a simple, commonplace example of why and how different perspectives matter. By the same logic, any organization that eschews differing perspectives, ideas and opinions puts itself at risk of allowing errors to go unnoticed and uncorrected while potential corrective actions and innovative opportunities are missed. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in 2016 that “A diverse mix of voices leads to better discussions, decisions, and outcomes for everyone [1].”
Throughout this blog series, we have provided examples of how important valuing and inviting different perspectives are to STEMM, as they are for many human endeavors. Since this is a blog for senior women leaders in STEMM, we have focused primarily on the importance of gender diversity. Our review [2] of Caroline Criado Perez’s book Invisible women: Data bias in a world designed for men quoted her comment that “When we exclude half of humanity from the production of knowledge we lose out on potentially transformative insights [3].” In our review [4] of The Moment of Lift by Melinda French Gates [5], we included her statement that “Gender diversity is not just good for women; it’s good for anyone who wants results.” Our post “It’s not pie” [6] provides evidence that gender diversity increases scientific innovation and likely also its impact.
We have both observed many examples of how a diverse group can be particularly effective in science and engineering, while the opposite is also true. For example, a meeting in which everyone echoes the same ideas and visions may be superficially peaceful and productive, but there is often underlying stress that differing opinions are not being valued or sought out. Yet, differing opinions may be crucially important to developing and implementing a project. Diversity includes not only (protected) categories such as gender, race, religion, and ethnicity but also differences in background and status such as age, nationality, economic standing, education, (sub)discipline and prior work experience. Such differences can lead to differing ideas and perceptions. That said, relying on just one form of diversity (such as country of origin) is not nearly enough since perspectives are shaped by multiple factors.
A well-rounded education is more than just curriculum
Universities and the public have long understood that a university education that is too narrowly focused will not prepare graduates for a long life in the working world. This is why, for example, chemistry students take classes not only in a variety of (sub)disciplines such as organic, inorganic, analytical, physical, and biochemical chemistry but also classes that expose them to various aspects of history and culture and train them to communicate effectively.
University education must also prepare students to work with – and understand the societal needs of – people with different backgrounds and experiences, whether those derive from gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, or other differences. A comprehensive STEMM program requires not only diversity of (sub)discipline but also diversity of people and perspectives both among peers and instructors. A female student who never takes a STEMM class from a woman may become discouraged about her career prospects and drop out of STEMM, which is a loss to everyone [7].
In the context of university research, it is also important that researchers have opportunities to collaborate with and learn from people with diverse perspectives. Criado Perez has convincingly demonstrated that product design and testing aimed only at the white male members of a population can prove disastrous for the health of women and people of color [3].
STEMM graduates will be working in and for a diverse world and need to be prepared to recognize, deal with and address this diversity effectively.
Why it’s important not just to bring different voices to the table but to ensure they can be effective team members
In nature, an animal that falls out of step with the flock or herd (whether due to age, infirmity, or mere chance) is often targeted by predators. In wartime, a ship that does not keep up with the fleet or an airplane that falls out of formation not only is more prone to attack by the enemy but also can put the entire formation at risk. A fighter jet that breaks formation can cause a collision that destroys multiple aircraft and crews. Teams require good teamwork.
Working together well as a group is key to many STEMM projects, especially those which are complex and interdisciplinary. If a member of an under-represented group is hired and then isolated from the rest of the group, they cannot benefit from mentoring, communication, and cooperation with colleagues. This happens far too often in STEMM. Such lack of acceptance into the group and the resulting isolation hurt not just the individual but the entire group. It is counter-productive to hire someone but not to accept and integrate them into the group so that they can be a successful team member. Although a certain degree of independence is valued in science and engineering, our educational experiences and jobs require at least some degree of teamwork. This requires acceptance and understanding of diverse people.
We also have personal experience regarding how engagement, or lack thereof, can affect workplace effectiveness. In her career, Patricia was often the only woman or one of very few. In one job, all the men would go golfing every Friday afternoon, but she was never invited and obviously not welcome. Yet, key information about the organization was discussed and decisions were made on the golf links. In contrast, she was later in an academic department in which the department chair proactively worked to ensure the small number of female faculty were welcomed and fully integrated into meetings and social events. This didn’t just lead to a happier workplace; it helped everyone to work together effectively. At another university, she again found it much harder, as a woman, to find colleagues who would share information about what was going on in the department and the college, limiting her ability to contribute effectively to decision-making processes.
Patricia observed how critical it can be for STEMM students to have at least some female faculty. For example, low retention of female students improved only after the female faculty stepped in to correct a situation that excluded female engineering students from working effectively in group projects with male students. Disciplines that involve field work can be especially challenging for female students. As a geoscientist, Patricia often encountered male faculty who did not consider personal safety, hygiene (especially bathroom), and equipment (e.g., with respect to hand size, height and weight) needs of female students. Often, female students are only open to discussing such issues with female faculty. If we are going to have female students, we need to ensure they can do field work safely and effectively; female faculty are needed not just as role models but as advocates.
Lack of engagement can lead to misperceptions of ‘merit’
One of the most common arguments against proactively seeking to diversify a university student body or a workplace is that acceptance, hiring, and promotion should all be based solely on some objective ‘merit.’ This attitude persists despite the many concerns that have been raised about biases in the perception of merit. We have personally observed how such biases exacerbate the isolation that can make it hard for women in male-dominated disciplines to collaborate effectively and may even endanger them.
Throughout her career in the federal government and in academia, Patricia witnessed numerous instances of women’s ideas, efforts, and accomplishments being undervalued, not only by many male colleagues but also by some women. Too many times, women’s voices were silenced in faculty meetings, or their ideas discounted until repeated by a man, who then took the credit. She sat on promotion committees over the years in which plenty of mediocre men were promoted but women needed to be absolutely stellar for the same promotion. As a student, she witnessed male students being far more critical of female faculty than of male faculty; she continued to witness this phenomenon throughout her career. She repeatedly observed her few African American colleagues having to conduct enormous additional service while at the same time being treated unfairly in evaluations. Sadly, students and colleagues often do not seem to be aware of their inherent biases.
When Janet started her executive position, she was surprised at the low proportion of women in the applicant pools for tenure track group leader positions despite the equal representation of women at the doctoral and post-doctoral levels. This motivated her to implement systemic changes in the search process (which can be found in the documentation linked to our post on “The joys of being a senior woman leader” [8]). This is where engagement is crucial – we need to engage with one another to call out biased unfair evaluations when we see them. We need to engage with members of under-represented groups to welcome them and listen to them.
Conclusions
Diverse perspectives are powerful and necessary. Yet, often when a member of an under-represented group joins an organization, they are left isolated and unable to serve the team effectively. This is why it is crucial to commit to engagement. We can each look for ways to make everyone – regardless of race, gender, age, (dis)ability, or any other differences – feel welcome and part of the group. We can work to ensure that students and junior colleagues are well mentored, and that information is widely and professionally disseminated. Sometimes, a welcoming smile and an offer for someone to join the group can make all the difference in the world. Each one of us can make a difference if we understand the problem and personally commit to addressing it.
Questions for Further Thought:
· Why is diversity of (sub)discipline widely accepted as essential but diversity of peer and instructor gender, race, nationality, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background treated by many as unfair or even taboo?
· What can we, as women in STEMM, do to stay positive in a world that seems to be presenting a backlash against us?
· How can we improve engagement between our students and colleagues, so that everyone is able to do their very best work?
References and links:
[1] https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/06/30/google-diversity-numbers-2016/86562004/
[3] Criado Perez, C. (2019) Invisible Women: Data bias in a world designed for men, Abrams (US edition).
[4] https://www.epistimi.org/blog/the-moment-of-lift-by-melinda-gates
[5] Gates, M. (2019) The Moment of Lift: Empowering Women Changes the World, Bluebird (UK edition), 273 pp.
[7] Boivin, N. Hering, J.G., Täuber, S. and Keller, U. (2023) “How your money is helping subsidise sexism in academia – and what you can do about it”, The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/how-your-money-is-helping-subsidise-sexism-in-academia-and-what-you-can-do-about-it-218347
[8] https://www.epistimi.org/blog/the-joys-of-being-a-senior-woman-leader